CES 2010: Microsoft Confirms "Game Room" Virtual Arcade

[DarthNuno]

January 6, 2010 - A leaked internal video interview has spoiled at least one of Microsoft's surprise announcements at this year's CES show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company plans to introduce "Game Room," a virtual arcade featuring retro titles for the Xbox 360

Microsoft's president of Entertainment and Devices Division Robbie Bach is seen discussing the to-be-announced plan as a way of bringing classic arcade titles, such as Centipede, to a new audience.

"Game room in some ways is sort of a retro approach," Bach said. "There's a generation of people who grew up with a set of games like Centipede. They look almost like casual, fun games today. At the time, they were high-end, edgy games. Game Room is the idea of bringing that back to the market, and bringing that to a very broad audience.

"What we're going to find is that when people can get 30 or more of these types of games, they're going to love it for the experience, and not just casual players, even people who would call themselves "hardcore gamers" are going to say, "oh wow, this is fun," he added.

The arcade will launch this coming Spring for Xbox 360 and PC with 30 original arcade and console classics, including "Centipede," "Asteroids Deluxe," and "Super Cobra." Players will be able to invite friends to your own custom arcade to challenge each other. The retro games will appear in their original cabinets and can be placed anywhere in your arcade.

New games will be released every week, with over 1000 titles being available over the next three years. Titles will be priced between 240-400 points for download, while 40 points nets players a single play.

Purchasing a game allows players to play it both on either Xbox 360 or PC.

"Game Room" will support Avatars, Voice Chat, 1080p, online multiplayer (Gold membership required), and cross-platform leader boards and achievements

Link for the complete article by IGN.

Now check this video right here.

Hey... Arcade games are going to be more 'mainstream' than never 

[DarthNuno]

A here is Scr33n, playing his Tempest   





 

[scr33n]

 

[level42]

Oh no, the zillionth retro-arcade release on a console.
Like all the others before it, it will fail.

Why ? Because you don't have the cabinet, you don't have the correct controls, you don't have the look of a 19" CRT, you don't have the smell of the cabinet in your nose....it's just not the real thing.

O well.....at least they got the Atari logo right....

P.S. And once again, Microsoft steals an idea. Ever heard of MAME !?!?!?!

[DarthNuno]

I think it's a good idea to bring back arcade games on XBL.
Of course, it'll never be the same than playing on the real thing, but this is not the purpose here!
The target audience here is the casual gamers, who'll be more than happy to re-discovers 'Classics' and play Pac Man without configuring Mame for example, and share high score with the huuuuuuuge XBL community, but also experienced players (you should see some high score I've seen... completely awesome ). And they are also guys like me, sometime to lazy to go inside my game room, plug everything just for one game... so I put my ass in my sofa, press one button... and fight against the world  OK, not the same 'Classics' experience, but just ... an OTHER experience  It fresh my minds for time to time 

For those (like me) who feels uncomfortable with the controls or the display.... just thing that it's the same for all other competitors on that platform  So yes, when I play Xevious on XBL, I'm not as good as I'm on my cabinet... but the 'handicap' is the same for all others ;-)
I use to play Classics on PSN and also XBL and I can tell you the games, for most of them, are very accurate in term of game play. In addition, I really enjoy to see my name in the World Wide Hall of Fames, just after a game Because we are all on the same hardware, no cheat... You really should try  Even Billy Mitchell is doing score on XBL 
At last, I'm happy for the new generation of gamers, kids... remember, the audience on PSN or XBL is huge... and it's a good thing that so many people can see, play, discover, or re-discover 'our' classics 
I prefer to see that ... than nothing 

An other good things are ... the sequels... Do you believe me if I tell you I got a PS3 for ... Xevious Ressurection  Only available on PS3 ...  Pac-Man Championship on 360, the official sequel to Pac man... 

OK, so for the first time, I would say for this topic : "IT'S A MATTER OF GAME THIS TIME", not a matter of cabinet, road trip, or anything... 

[petieken]

For those (like me) who feels uncomfortable with the controls or the display.... just thing that it's the same for all other competitors on that platform  So yes, when I play Xevious on XBL, I'm not as good as I'm on my cabinet... but the 'handicap' is the same for all others ;-)

I think it's only a handicap for players who know what a joystick is, and played with it . Most of the younger crowd (-18) havent seen an arcade cabinet in real life. Except for the driving and dancing cabs which are about the only cabs to be found these days, and those obviously don't have joysticks.

I know this because last week when I was working on my Sagaia at my friends' place there was a group of -18 kids with my friend and they didn't even know how a joystick worked, they thought it was a big version of the analog stick found on X360 or PS3 pads . Some of the youngest didn't even understand why you had to drop coins in them to have a play on it . So they were totally amazed that these cabinets were found in bars, fairs and arcades (arcades was another new concept for them).

I'm only 26 years old, but talking to these guys made me feel old But I'm happy I still experienced the arcade scene when there was still a scene (although it was already on it's last legs).

[level42]

At least I'm giving my kid a good upbringing.

I know when he comes in the home saying, "Dad, the race cab (the Power Drift) is out of _credits_ again...."

He actually uses the word credits....not sure if he understands the idea behind it but it's still fun to hear him say it...

About XBL: the problem I have with the retro-issues of classic arcade games on consoles etc. is that the games only capture 10-30% of the original fun. F.I. on my son's DS I installed Atari Retro games. It's done pretty decently actually. My son loves Lunar Lander. But there is no way to emulate the handle bar thruster.
So, in the end, the games are much less appealing, so the kids get disappointed and say "these old games suck !". If they will ever encounter the real cabs, they probably won't even try because of those bad experiences.

Just MHO.

[petieken]

That's totally true, I experienced this sometimes too. I have almost never experienced games that are my age or older when I was a kid. For example Paperboy, I had a very good time with the Sega Mega Drive port when I was a kid. But when I play it now it just doesn't feel right with that D-pad. The same goes for Marble Madness, also had a good time on the Mega Drive port. But I figure a trackball would make the game even more fun, especially when playing with friends

Some time ago I played Rainbow Islands on the Nintendo DS, it's crap! It has nothing to do with the original, except for the sprites maybe... I was thinking, wtf why can't I make rainbows?! I figure when a kid plays that they will never want to give the real game a shot. So they're actually missing a good game.

[level42]

Bubble Bobble is a good conversion to DS though, plays like the original (in "classic" mode).

[petieken]

Haven't tried Bubble Bobble yet, I only know Rainbow Islands is crap .

[subzero1970]

I think it'll be ace, you can place the cabs anywhere, you can customise them etc etc...I cant wait for it

[Ghost Soldier]

I'm looking forward to creating my own virtual gameroom.

[subzero1970]

Well what do you think? I like it but I thought u could actually walk your avatar about!!!

[Muerto]

i don´t have an X-Box...

[DarthNuno]

It's very fun. I love the general ambiance : lot of 80's sounds  . I already got the Shao-Lin's Road and ... Gravitar cabinets
They add some special effects for vector games, far away for the real thing of course, but... still fun to play (I'm discovering Gravitar)
The most interesting thing is the world wide score board... but why only to display the top 20 players?... these scores are already huge 
Regarding the games, the emulation seems to be accurate. Like mame, you can add some graphics effects to give more 'arcade feeling' authenticity, like scan line, display raster, ...
To resume, this game room is the 'Legal Mame' for the mass  Nothing to setup...just 'buy' ...and play.